Quarantine Candy

"Your home should tell the story of who you are, and be a collection of what you love."  - Nate Berkus *** Actual quotes that have been uttered from my lips. "I could live in one of those tiny houses you see on Facebook." "I don't need a television." "I don't need a balcony." "I don't need a microwave." "I don't need a couch.  I'm not going to have any visitors anyways." "I'm going to be the perfect example of minimalist living." **** Those tiny houses you see on Facebook do not have plumbing.   That idea was rather short lived and turned into a hard NO once I saw the porta potty style toilet that I can imagine around January is a wee bit chilly.   (No pun intended on the wee wee.) I currently do not have a television, although when I failed at my attempt to cancel Bell (like many of the population), I was sold on alt-TV "just in case" television, " in case " I decided I m...

"  If you hover your mouse over the little microphone icon, you will be able to click it and unmute yourself." "John, John. I can hear the echo in your background.   Can you please click on the microphone beside your name in the participant panel and mute yourself please?   Thank you." "Okay Mary.   Thank you for volunteering Mary.  No, we can't hear you Mary.   Mary, you need to unmute yourself. Mary, click on the unmute button please. Never mind, I will unmute you Mary.  Mary, you may now speak. Mary, are you still there?" "Can you hear me?" "No, we can't hear you Jane.   Unmute yourself Jane." Repeat daily until 5pm. *** It's actually quite brilliant this whole technology thing.    We are able to control people in ways that could never exist in a meeting room or a live classroom, all by the power of a mute button.   It's like we have the ability to wave a magic wand. "aaaaand you are SILENCED." No mo...

In the past week, I've read two books.    The first book is called " Light is the New Black" by Rebecca Campbell.   I read it in 3 days, and if I ever actually sit down and write the book I keep talking about, I would write in this exact same style, but geared towards mental health.   It would be a personal story, followed by challenging all societal beliefs on the subject, with questions and exercises at the end of each chapter - all focused towards finding your true purpose in life and watching as anxiety, depression and despair miraculously disappear.   Light is the New Black is laid out in that same format, but spiritually based and targeted towards women.  I absolutely loved it and might even go as far as saying its' in my top 5 favourite spiritual reads to date.   It is like the Artist's Way presented in a light ( no pun intended ) and easy-to-read manner.    LOVE.   LOVE. The second book I read is the " 4 ...

I dropped a card off to my neighbours last week with a copy of my post "Porch Drop". I left it in their mailbox and waved, and then panicked for my entire walk that I might have COVID and they will probably die, all from me infecting them with my nice gesture. But for the actual split second that I dropped the envelope in the mailbox, it felt pretty fulfilling to do something nice for people I didn't know. The next day, when I walked past their home, they both stood up and gave me the thumbs up symbol from their window. I smiled, finally feeling like I'd done some good during a time of feeling generally so helpless. *** The bugs by the waterfront are at the height of super annoying at the moment, so I haven't seen my lovely neighbours this week because I was forced to change my routine.   I started doing sprints down the path behind my house instead.   It gave me back an hour into my day (because I'm so, so busy, you know, that I could use another ...

"You're missing a bobble." That one sentence literally put me into giggles last night. I'm missing a bobble on my right slipper. The same pair of slippers I've worn every single day since March 17th. A light blue pair of Dollarama slippers that were given to me as a Christmas present with two dark blue bobbles on each foot. I'm missing a bobble. This is where we're at. I have a bobble shortage. *** I woke up this morning with an urge to burn every pair of tights in my closet. My current Quarantine uniform looks like this - Dollarama slippers - $1.00 Black fleece tights from St. Jacob's market purchased two years ago - $20.00 cash Black long sleeve T-shirt from Old Navy - $9.99 (never would pay full price at Old Navy - it's a psychological win on discounts and savings to shop there)  Black Hazel Mae long sweater that needed to be thrown out at least twelve months ago and I continue to " get another year out of" -...

I walked down to the beach this morning, like I do nearly every day. I could hear the sound of my breath, my footsteps on the path and the birds singing in the trees.   The air was cold and it was snowing, weird April snowflakes, the ones that don't belong this time of year.  I only heard a few cars today and passed less than a dozen people.   The early morning walkers are all on a mission and really respectful about distance.  We were probably 20 feet away from each other and play a good game of dodge and avoid on our routes. It's eerie, really, to see society like this. I was the only person on the beach. The water was calm and peaceful.   There was one swan floating along and the sunlight was dancing along the top of the lake.  The seagulls didn't even move away as I walked through them today and I thought that even the birds could feel the solitude that was present. This walk began as something to do to kill time 3 years ago when I wasn't work...

I thought I was doing pretty well. Remarkably well, in fact. Creative plan/ hobby ✔ Deep clean house ✔ Fitness plan ✔ New books ✔ Handle finances and Service Canada ✔ Learn something new ✔ Ideas for new meals ✔ I was pleasantly surprised as how easy it was to fall back into my unemployment routine, and thought I'd be rolling out a support group on keeping your sh*t together . You know? Like all those " don't give a f#@k" books, but with keeping sh*t together instead. Really, you're having a hard time?    Nope, not me.    I'm actually doing great. Had plenty of practice, ya know? This ain't my first rodeo at not workin'. People were sending me notes asking how I was doing, and I kept thinking - Why are you asking me this?   I'm TOTALLY fine. Until yesterday. Yesterday, I was NOT fine. Yesterday, I sat on the basement floor and cried for a really long time. When I was done feeling sorry for myself, I...